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Describing Graphs - Academic IELTS 2021
Describing Graphs - Academic IELTS 2021
Academic IELTS
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Timing
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Types of Visuals
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Table
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Bar chart
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Line graph
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Pie charts
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Process /Diagram
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Map
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Line graph & pie chart
( more than one Graph)
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Graphs Evaluation
1- Task achievement
• Cover the requirements of the task.
• Write between 160 and 180.
• Write a clear overview ( describing the main features or trends )
• Do not include any irrelevant information.
• Describe information correctly .
2- Cohesion and coherence .
• Make comparisons and not just list information .
• Divide the response into paragraphs.
• Use linking words.
3- Lexical resource .
• Paraphrase the question
• Do not repeat words.
• Correct spelling.
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Tips
4- Grammatical range and accuracy :
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6 top sentences structures
1. Whereas/ While /although……, ……. .
While the figure for factories in Japan went up dramatically to 120,000 in 2010, the quantity in Korea
decreased to 12,000.
2. followed by + Noun Phrase
There was a dramatic growth in the number of factories in Japan to 120.000 in 2010, followed by a sharp
decrease.
3 - Prior to/before Verb-ing
The number of factories in Japan experienced an increase to 120,000 in 2010 before hitting a free fall to 1,000
in 2015.
4. after Verb – ing
The figure for factories in Japan hit a free fall to 1,000 in 2o15 after undergoing an increase to 120,000 in 2010.
5. In comparison to/with X, which verb, Y verb.
In comparison with the number of factories in Japan, which witnessed a dramatic increase to 120,000 in 2010,
the quantity in Korea plummeted to 12,000 at this time.
6. X verb , Verb-ing
The quantity of factories in Japan went through a period of dramatic increase, rising to 120,000 in 2010,
exceeding the number in Korea, which had only 12,000.
7- using a relative clause:
The income of Lovely Loaves fell significantly to around 40,000 in 2008, which meant that it earned far less
than the other bakeries
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• Use “despite” and “having” to join
two changes
Despite + V+ ing , ……………………… .
Examples :
-Despite increasing sharply to 9000 , the number of sales then
declined in 2010.
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Graphs with trends
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Language to describe trends
Verb Noun
Increase an increase
rise a rise
climb a climb
Grow A growth
Verb Noun
decrease a decrease
Fall a fall
Drop a drop
Decline a decline
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Language to describe trends
Verb Noun
Remain constant -
Level off a leveling off
Remained unchanged ( no change )
Remain stable ( a period of stability )
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Language to describe trends
Verb Noun
Fluctuate a fluctuation
Oscillate an oscillation
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Degree and Speed
Big change
Adjective Adverb
Marked Markedly
Exponential Exponentially
Considerable Considerably
Rapid Rapidly
Dramatic Dramatically
Sharp Sharply
Smaller change
Adjective Adverb
Minimal Minimally
Slight Slightly
Slow Slowly
steady Steadily
Gradual Gradually
Moderate Moderately
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Tip ! Use combinations of verb/ adverbs and
adjective / nouns to refer to changes
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Change the grammar !
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Answers :
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Examples
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Tip! Using the right tense
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Which tense you have to use?
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Tip! Use the right prepositions
• From / to
The number rose from 5 % to 15%
From start point to end point
• By 15%
The number rose by 10 %
The difference between the start point and end point
• At
In 2013, the percentage stood at 5%
In 2016, the percentage settled at 15% 5 %
specific point
• Of
The data reaches a peak of 15 % and a low of 5 %
High or low points
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Tip! Include Approximation
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Tip! Join two changes
• …………… , and then …………..
• …………. , and after that ………
• …………, after which …………..
• …………., but this was followed by ………. .
• Next, ………………………………….
• Subsequently, ……………………….
• After that, ……………….. .
• Following this, ……………………
• At this point, ………………… .
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Your turn ! Use the correct
prepositions :
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Structure
1. Introduction
• Paraphrase the question
• Mention the type of the graph.
• Mention the years, location, items being described and measurements.
2- Overview
• Don’t include data
• Write at least 2 main trends/ features.
• Describe the trends / changes over time (upwards / downwards/ fluctuating) if there is a
timeframe.
• Mention the exception if found.
• Mention highest and lowest points.
• Mention Similarities
• Mention the most noticeable differences.
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Useful Language to write the introduction
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Question
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Sample Introduction
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Overview
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Useful Language to write the overview
Starting Trend
Overall, what stands out from the There was an upward trend in ..
graph / chart is that … ……. saw a downward trend
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Body paragraphs
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Tip ! Use some language to start body
paragraphs
• Looking at the details,
• As presented in the line graph,
• It can be seen from the graph that
• From the figures, it is clearly shown that
• It is apparent that
• According to the .. ,
• Regarding ……… ,
• With respect to ……, ……. .
• If we look at ………, ………. .
• It is apparent from the given information that ….
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Question
Groups :
By category :
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The bar chart compares
the amount of time spent
by people in the UK on
three different
types of phone
call between 1995 and 2002.
In 1995, people in the UK used fixed lines for a total of just over 70 billion minutes for local calls, and
about half of that amount of time for national and international calls. By contrast, mobile phones were
only used for around billion minutes. Over the following four years, the figures for all three types of
phone call increased steadily.
By 1999, the amount of time spent on local calls using landlines had reached a peak at 90 billion
minutes. Subsequently, the figure for this category fell, while the call continued. In 2002, the number of
minutes of national/international and local calls passed 60 billion although the figures for mobiles rose
to around 45 billion minutes.
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Table and bar and pie charts with
trends
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Grouping 1
Petrol ( decrease )
Grouping 2
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Model Answer
Overall, in both years, the most significant sources of energy were gas and coal, while nuclear and other kinds
of energy sources generated the least amount of energy. All types of energy production increased minimally
except petrol which decreased.
Looking at the details, energy produced by coal comprised of 29.80% in the first year , and this showed only a
very slight increase of about a mere 1% to 30.9% in 2005 . Likewise, in 1995, gas generated 29.63% which rose
marginally to 30.1 10 years later. With regards to the remaining methods of producing energy, there was an
approximate 5% growth in production from both nuclear power and other sources to 10.10 % and 9.10%
respectively .
Petrol, on the other hand, was the only source of energy which decreased in production from 29.27% in 1995
to around a fifth ( 19.55 % ) in 2005 .
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Tip! Describe numbers differently
Use Proportions:
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Tip ! Use fractions
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You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table shows the Proportions of Pupils Attending Four Secondary School Types between 2000 and 2009.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant.
It is evident that whereas the community schools experienced a marked increase in the proportion of
those attending their institutions over the period, the others
saw a corresponding decline.
To begin, the percentage of pupils in voluntary-controlled schools fell from just over half to only 20% or
one fifth from 2000 to 2009. Similarly, the relative number of children in grammar schools -- just under
one quarter -- dropped by half in the same period. As for the specialist schools, the relatively small
percentage of pupils attending this type of school (12%) also fell, although not significantly.
However, while the other three types of school declined in importance, the opposite was true in the case
of community schools. In fact, while only a small minority of 12% were educated in these schools in 2000,
this figure increased to well over half of all pupils during the following nine years.
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The bar chart shows the scores of teams A,B and C over four different seasons.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make
comparisons where relevant.
Grouping : By years
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The provided bar chart illustrates the scores of three teams, A, B and C, in four consecutive seasons.
Overall, It is evident from the chart that there was a fluctuation in the scores of all the teams during the period shown .
Moreover, team B scored far higher than the other two teams over the years, whereas their score decreased as a whole over the
period.
In 2002, the score of team B far exceeded that of the other two teams, standing at 82 points compared to only 10 for team C
and a very low 5 for team A. Over the next two years, the points for team B decreased quite considerably, dropping by around
half to 43 by 2004. In contrast, team A’s points had increased by 2004 to reach 35 points, nearly equal to team B. Team C,
meanwhile, had managed only a small increase over this time.
In the final year, team B remained ahead of the others as their points increased again to 55, while team A and C saw their
points drop to 8 and 5 respectively.
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Graphs without trends
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Highest numbers
Lowest numbers
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Model Answer
The provided table illustrates percentages of consumer expenditure for three categories of
products and services in five countries in 2002.
Overall, it is clear that the largest proportion of consumer spending in each country went on
food, drinks and tobacco. On the other hand, the leisure / education category had the lowest percentages.
Out of the five countries, consumer spending on food, drinks and tobacco was noticeably higher
in Turkey, at 32.14% and Ireland , at nearly 29%. The proportion of spending on leisure and education was also
highest in Turkey, at 4.35%, while expenditure on clothing and footwear was significantly higherin Italy
, at 9 %, than in any of the other countries.
It can be seen that Sweden had the lowest percentages of national consumer expenditure for
food/drinks/ tobacco and for clothing/ footwear , at nearly 16% and just over 5% respectively. Spain had
slightly higher figures for these categories , whereas the lowest figure for leisure / education , at only 1.98
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Tip ! Learn the language of comparisons
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Other important language for
comparisons
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Other important language for
comparisons
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Other important language for
comparisons
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More than one chart
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Structure
1. Introduction
Paraphrase the question of both graphs
2- Overview
3- body paragraph
Describe the first chart
4- Body paragraph
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Question
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The given line graph illustrates the
publication rate of UK based university professors,
categorized by male and female , and the bar
chart measures publications by four
Selected universities. Both are during 2006 and
2012.
Overall, the publication rate of male
professors remained more or less stable , whereas
those for females increased significantly . It can
also be seen that the majority of publications
were in the humanities .
In 2006, the number of female publications stood at 1000
per year, while that for males was three times higher. However,
over the following 6 years, this gap closed as the female
rate climbed noticeably to 3000 in 2012, which nearly matched
that of the males, at around 3,300.
Publications in the humanities were considerably
higher than for all the other subjects for all the universities , and
particularly noticeable was Warwick which had 120 over the
whole period, far higher than the other establishments. Warwick
was also more prolific in publishing in the sciences and the arts,
at around 90, whilst Sheffield , York and Birmingham all produced
less than 45 in all these areas . Overall, Birmingham published the
least .
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Processes
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Describing processes
1. Describe all steps illustrated in the
diagram.
2. Connect stages using words like :
firstly, secondly, thirdly, then , next,
after that, in addition, otherwise, at
the same time, concurrently,
simultaneously and finally.
3. Use the present simple.
4. No need to write an overview
paragraph.
5. When describing how something is
made, use the passive voice.
6. Write an introduction and two body
paragraphs.
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Structure
1. Introduction
• Paraphrase the rubric
• Give a short summary of the process by mentioning the number
of stages and listing the first and last stages
2- Body paragraph :
3- Body paragraph :
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Sample Question
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Tip! Link stages
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Tip! Link stages
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The diagrams show how the bee makes honey and the
stages in the production of honey. Summarize the
information by selecting and reporting main features and
making comparisons where relevant.
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The life-cycle of a honey bee and the commercial
production of honey are represented in the charts.
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Maps
Development
of an Comparison
area
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Useful Language !
Prepositional and other phrases Examples
In front of The railway line is in front of three apartment blocks.
opposite One apartment building is opposite the lake.
Next to The car park is next to a house
beside There is a house beside the lake.
Behind There are three houses behind the hospital .
to the left / right of The car park is to the right of a house.
Between The supermarket is between four houses and three blocks.
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Tip! Use present perfect tense to describe changes
between a time in the past and now
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Tip! Use noun phrases
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Questions
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Answers
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Describing a map
1. Introduction :
• Paraphrase the question
2. Overview :
• The biggest changes / main differences
3- Body paragraph :
• Describing the changes / differences
4- Body paragraph :
• Describing the changes / differences
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The map below shows the development of a seaside village between 1995 and present.
Write a short report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.
Grouping
1 By position
East
West
2 By changes :
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The two provided maps illustrate the main
changes which have taken place in a seaside
village between the year 1995 and today.
There was also an increase in the total number of houses, from 12 in 1995 to 16 at present. In
addition, the road encircling a small housing development west of the main road has been extended further
westward.The hotel and café in the south east are the only buildings which have remained the same. A new
car park has been added next to the hotel.
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The maps illustrate the changes that
have taken place in the seaside village
since 1995.
With regards to changes that have happened to the western side of the village, the
road which was running in the north-south direction has been extended to the west.
More houses have been constructed to the south of the road which was extended to
the west. The shops which were situated to the south west part of the village have
been demolished and restaurants have been built there. The fish market and the
seaport to the south west of the village have also been removed and in the place of the
fish market, apartments have been constructed.
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Question
Grouping
Paragraph 1:
paragraph 2:
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The map illustrates two potential locations
(S1 and S2) for a new supermarket in a town called
Garlsdon.
The main difference between the two sites is that S1
is outside the town, whereas S2 is in the town
centre. The sites can also be compared in terms
of access by road or rail, and their positions relative
to three smaller towns.
Looking at the information in more detail,
S1 is in the countryside to the north west of
Garlsdon which has a population of
65000;however, it is close to the residential area of
the town. S2 is also close to the housing area, which
surrounds the town centre.
There are main roads from Hindon, Bransdon and
Cransdon to Garlsdon town centre, while this is a no traffic zone, and thus
there would be no access to S2 by car. By contrast, S1 lies on the
main road to Hindon, whereas it would be more difficult to reach
from Bransdon and Cransdon. Both supermarket sites are
close to the railway that runs through Garlsdon from Hindon to Cransdon.
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Thank you
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